Did I go see Booka Shade, you ask? Well, of course I went to see them live at the Independent last night! There was a very diverse crowd of spectators there to cheer them on. I couldn’t remember who I last saw at The Independent until I walked in and saw various photos of notable guests along the entrance hall and then it hit me. I dragged bazooie with me a few years back to see RJD2 and stole his wife’s ticket as they sold out and forced her to go watch some movie down the block. She was a good sport about that.
The show itself started around 10:45 and lasted until about midnight. Sometimes I feel a little cheated for spending $25 on a ticket for an hour of music but honestly, if it’s as jam-packed with excitement as a Booka Shade show, you really won’t have buyer’s remorse. They even played an abridged version of their O Superman remix (originally by Laurie Anderson). Why Walter felt the need to lip-sync during the track is beyond me but as long as he was having fun. . .
Though honestly, with the photos I take it could have easily been any electronic duo but it was in fact Arno Kammermeier on drums and Walter Merziger on synths. Oh and they had an Apple laptop between them. . .I’m sure it probably had Ableton Live running. . .most likely
We took an adventurous trip up to San Francisco Sunday to visit the piers and eat at a restaurant no one should ever really eat at, the Rainforest Cafe (side point, when I stepped foot into RFC, I realized that I had been to the one near Disney World about 20 years ago and it looked exactly the same). Along our walk to the restaurant, we passed by a merry assortment of street performers and ended up at the breakdancing circle over near Pier 39. The same gentleman I’ve seen several times now over the years hosts a group of young dancers with the “above the influence” theme. Good for them, I guess. So, we gathered around the dance mat constructed of the finest cardboard boxes and packing tape and watched as they breaked it like it was the 80s (complete with a portable mic and ghettoblaster pumping out some Planet Rock derivative).
Many more photos taken with my new camera of some slick moves for your enjoyment coming up!
First, off I should mention that I’m no fan of the Australian drum’n'bass outfit known as Pendulum. I only know a handful of their work but Brian admires them and Jarrett (of JX2) as well (and I believe Adam does too so I’m pretty much an odd man out here). But, I decided to join Brian in going to see them up at the Regency on Tuesday night anyways.
It was a surprisingly decent show that started at a great time (10pm) and ended at a reasonable hour. To me, Pendulum is a cross between Rage Against the Machine and Prodigy. It was a fun mix to bounce to but their MC, Ben “The Verse” Mount, isn’t too appealing to me. I don’t know what it is about that Australian accent, but it just doesn’t work for me (though he did have TONS of energy that was good for the show). Other than that, I was amazed that Paul Kodish kept quite an accurate beat on live drums and the lead vocalist and guitar-synth player, Rob Swire kept the music interesting and varied.
And that, folks, is what we call a crappy camera phone photo that may or may not be proof that I went to see some lights and moving objects!
‘Whoooo….barbungggg… ah oh yeah this is… ahh..ahhh…’
Honestly, this is better than Shakespeare.
So we’re talking about collecting samples. It’s a truly weird idea to think that almost anything online can be sampled, but due to copyright, there is so much to clear. But I’m thinking the more languages collected over a period of time, the more word variations we can find.
Archiving is probably a result of my obsessive behaviours - but I know Alex can knock me dead with what he’s got stashed up. So I make up for showing off with my mixer, instead. But I digress…. or DO I?…… Yes. I do.
What I’m trying to say is that I’m a sucker for wanting to collect as much as I can of these randoms vocals - leading onto the idea of mashing up as many as possible, perhaps into conversation. Surely it can’t be too hard.
So I should talk to Steve one day - ask him if he wants to be in an amateur/pro-semi electro collective bedroom producers’ dance track?
Sadly, Terrasocket didn’t make the top 10 in Jazzanova’s remix contest. Oh well, back to the drawing board (so to speak).
For more info on the remix competition and winners, check out their page. The country remix is a particularly interesting choice.
This was our remix:
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Monsters DO have their place! [it's either Cable, Congress, or Wireless Corporations]
Apparently, monsters should only dwell in in the zoo, in my nightmares, in the deep, and in my favorite horror movies. Though, I’m not sure why monsters shouldn’t be allowed in my livingroom. I mean, they’ve already invaded my bedroom via nightmares. Seems like the monsters and I have taken a step back in our relationship. I’m sorry for this but network television has drawn a clear line on this one.
I’m entertained at the irony of cable television being portrayed as a dinosaur when in fact cable was the more forward thinking business model.
But, why such a random video? We watch this today in honor of the Congress-mandated death of analog broadcasting this year here in the States thanks in part to the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (our Congress is so nimble). Now that we are in full swing of network television (that’s “free tv” to you hipsters of the 70’s) being digitally broadcasted, it’s time to step up to the new century of digital-to-analog converters! What does this mean for you? Probably nothing if you are civilized and have been stealing cable for the past 20 years. However, if you have been sucking it up with airwave-only television (prisoners and hospices I’d guess) did you know that Congress has set aside $1.34 billion in taxpayer money for CECBs (plus $100 million in administrative expenses and $5 million to edify the public and frighten the elderly) to help you move over to the 21st century (which in effect just gives $1.34 billion to corporations who have probably inflated the prices of DAC units… probably)? How much does it really cost to manufacture a DAC (retails for around $60)? It really cannot be more than a low-end DVD player, right (retails for about $30)?
How many people are there really that would need this (112 million homes; are you kidding me?)? Why didn’t I go into DAC manufacturing?
Seriously, who really benefits here? Shouldn’t the proponent corporations of free TV (those chiefly being NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox) be giving out these coupons and subsidizing the exurbanite costs of the DAC units to help with the transition? Yeah, they probably should but there is something more going on here. Who sponsored (Sen. Judd Gregg) and who drafted the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005? Who lobbied for this act (rumors point to wireless giants like Motorola Corporation)?
In the end when it’s all said and done, there’ll be $10 to 30 billion put back into the Treasury (that’s net income not gross profit so it’s probably going to be much less) from the auctioning of the analog spectrums to wireless communications corporations. Oh, and if you were you wondering which part of this has something to do with a “Safety Act” you’ll be happy to know that there will be an introduction of new emergency broadcast channels. Which channels and how do you know when to go to them? I haven’t a clue (but there is $1 billion set aside to help me understand when it does happen).
